Grasshopper Jungle

Andrew Smith

Smith's (Winger, 2013) latest offering is a funny and compelling chronicle of the apocalypse. Sixteen-year-old Austin Szerba narrates the end of the world from inside his underground bunker. In their small town of Ealing, Iowa, Austin and his best friend Robby accidentally release an unstoppable army of six-foot tall flesh-eating praying mantises that have the potential to destroy all of humanity. If that isn’t bad enough, Austin is also up to his eyeballs in confusion—is he in love with his best friend Robby or his girlfriend Shann?